{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/p4nurge\/","author_name":"panurge","cat":"LD #30","categories":["LD #30"],"comments":[],"epoch":1410262020,"event":"LD30","likes":5,"metadata":{"p_key":"81993","p_author":"panurge","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"292725","p_title":"\u2018The Veiled World\u2019 Autopsy and Post-Comp Version","p_cat":"LD #30","p_event":"LD30","p_time":"1410262020","p_likes":"5","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1408665600","event_key":"24","event_name":"LD30"},"source_url":"2014\/09\/09\/the-veiled-world-autopsy-and-post-comp-version\/","text":"

\"BulletTime\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had a ball taking part in my second Ludum Dare this year. More than anything, I\u2019ve been impressed and humbled by the great quality of games on display. I\u2019ll write another post soon to enthuse about my favourites but first I thought I\u2019d say a little about my own experiences.<\/p>\n

Right from the start, I eschewed any thoughts of doing anything clever or complicated with the theme and just went for a very straightforward and literal approach. The Veiled World is therefore the story of four stereotypical characters who stop a cliched monstrosity from taking over a generic fantasy world. Once I\u2019d boiled the story down to it\u2019s raw materials, I found I could have a lot of fun by just being as stupid as I liked with the details.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the gameplay is nothing new. Jump, shoot and flip between parallel dimensions. It\u2019s hokey but I tried to make it as extreme as I could to turn the hokiness into a virtue. I think it worked in some ways better than others\u2026<\/p>\n

THE GOOD:<\/p>\n

\u2013 I tried to give the combat a Vlambeer-style crunchiness and I think it worked pretty well. The screenshakes and hit physics give the right amount of feedback and make the fights feel satisfying. The variety between the four weapon types also worked well.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The sound effects. I did everything with my mouth or objects found on my desk (tweaked in Audacity) and it worked surprisingly well. It\u2019s amazing how forgiving the brain is when it has a visual cue to go along with a sound. The sped-up sound of a man blowing a raspberry suddenly seems the perfect noise for an axe hitting flesh once you put it in context.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The voice-overs. I had fun with these. Most of the positive reviews I\u2019ve had have mentioned my pronunciation of the characters\u2019 names. \":)\"<\/p>\n

\u2013 The art style. I\u2019m loathe to call it art really but I think it worked out well in the context. It looks appropriately old-school and it works that way, especially with so much blood splatter on the screen.<\/p>\n

THE BAD:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Opinion has been divided over the control system. I quite like it but then I spent a long time playtesting and getting used to it. A lot of players have found it too twitchy and difficult to manage, which I think is fair comment. I changed it quite a lot for the post-comp version.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Many people have found the game to be frustratingly difficult. Again, I overlooked this because I\u2019d spent so long playing it as I went along. I knew where all the platforms were so didn\u2019t have to put up with frustrating falls and long climbs up again as many players did. The enemy AI was also a little too vicious.<\/p>\n

\u2013 No music. A little music would have gone a long way, I think, but I lacked both time and talent in this regard.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The title screen and cutscenes are pretty awful. Nothing much to be proud of where presentation is concerned.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The font is hideous. Time ran out before I could change it. That said, it has a sort of goofy appeal of it own, I guess, if you\u2019re in a forgiving mood.<\/p>\n

THE UGLY:<\/p>\n

\u2013 There was a bug which caused all the gnomes to fly up into the air if you pushed the up arrow. It was stupid of me to overlook it but kind of fun when someone pointed it out to me.<\/p>\n

\"TVW5\"<\/a>

Terrible font\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

POST-COMP VERSION:<\/p>\n

Altogether, I was happy with the way it turned out and happy enough to think of expanding it into something a bit fuller. So the post-comp version has better controls, special abilities for all four characters, an endless arena mode and a few coats of extra polish. It\u2019s the game I had in my mind when I started but didn\u2019t quite get to make within the time limit.<\/p>\n

\"Fact2\"<\/a>

The wizard now dispenses Hot Facts<\/p><\/div>\n